Don't know what to do/where to start.

[scrapqueen8]

I was gifted a timeshare by my boss the Week of Christmas-Dec 26th-Jan 2nd. Taking my DD 21 and DD 16. DD 21 was there when she was 4. DD 16 has never been. We chose to go to Magic Kingdom, Epcot and Animal Kingdom. What are the top "Must see/do" and places to eat? What can we "pass" on.

 

[CBMom01]

I was gifted a timeshare by my boss the Week of Christmas-Dec 26th-Jan 2nd. Taking my DD 21 and DD 16. DD 21 was there when she was 4. DD 16 has never been. We chose to go to Magic Kingdom, Epcot and Animal Kingdom. What are the top "Must see/do" and places to eat? What can we "pass" on.

Well first, that’s an amazing gift! Congrats!

Second, that’s a big question. I’d say watch some videos about the parks and rides and see what looks appealing?
My one must do, can’t miss it ride is Peter Pan but everyone’s tastes differ.

 

[HopperFan]

I was gifted a timeshare by my boss the Week of Christmas-Dec 26th-Jan 2nd. Taking my DD 21 and DD 16. DD 21 was there when she was 4. DD 16 has never been. We chose to go to Magic Kingdom, Epcot and Animal Kingdom. What are the top "Must see/do" and places to eat? What can we "pass" on.

I am assuming you bought tickets and have your park reservations already .... busy week.

 

[Disney loving Iowan]

I personally wouldn't pass on Epcot. If for no other reason than the great food and atmosphere. If I were you though I'd watch as many vlogs as you can. They can be quite helpful with choosing what to do and where to eat.

 

[Disney Fool]

are your children StarWars fans? if so, they shouldn't miss Galaxy's Edge at HS, if only for a short time

 

[boop0524]

Awesome, what an amazing gift!! I would check out Disney Food Blog videos, the Dis Dining channel and other vloggers to see what types of restaurants they suggest in the parks and what the food/restaurant generally looks like. Touring Plans also has tons of great information and timely user reviews. This should help you get a feel for what you're interested in.

Definitely make a list of your top picks and backups since it's a busy time, then go from there. Have fun!!

 

[riddlemethis]

Hey! I'll be there during the same timeframe. It looks like common advice is to do MK on the 30th for their fireworks, as they do the NYE fireworks on both nights. It also looks like Epcot is a good place to be for the countdown too for space reasons. I've seen quite a bit that says to park hop on NYE, maybe HS in the AM, go take a long nap, then back to the parks for a laaaate night.

https://www.disneytouristblog.com/new-years-eve-disney-world-tips/
This has been really helpful for me in the beginning stages of planning too. I didn't think I'd get a res and found a dedicated one for sale. I love Disney planning but whew! We got this!!

The crowd calendars are also helpful too. I prefer touring plans personally.

 

[CynBeth]

Epcot is having the Candlelight Processional but info has not been. released yet and it looks like the storytellers will be there as well. Not sure how many park days you are planning but I would try to do as many as you can plus take time to resort hop to see the deluxe resorts decorated and the Christmas Tree Trail at Disney Springs. There are so many choices for TS and CS. You would need to look at menus and decide what interests you with backups as they can be hard to get. Here are some of our favorites:

MK - Be Our Guest, Tony’s, and Liberty Tree Tavern.
Epcot - Coral Reef, Chefs de France, Le Cellier, and Tutto Italia. We are looking forward to trying Space220.
DHS - 50’s Prime Time Cafe and Hollywood Brown Derby.
AKL -Boma for breakfast or dinner.

 

[VRogers6]

I was gifted a timeshare by my boss the Week of Christmas-Dec 26th-Jan 2nd. Taking my DD 21 and DD 16. DD 21 was there when she was 4. DD 16 has never been. We chose to go to Magic Kingdom, Epcot and Animal Kingdom. What are the top "Must see/do" and places to eat? What can we "pass" on.

I went when my kids were 22 and 18 - both daughters.

Here's what my daughters really liked at that age:

- Be Our Guest. They grew up loving that movie and they really liked the theming and food and decor in that place. We did lunch, which is a little more affordable than dinner, but any meal there, I would recommend.

- They loved all the rides you would expect older kids to enjoy (the mountains, roller coasters, Flight of Passage, etc.)

- Competitive rides (Buzz Lightyear, Midway Mania) - they rode those more than once if they could.

- They really liked meeting Tinkerbell, but I'm not sure you can do this anymore...maybe do a character meal. If they have any "princess" left in them, you might try to get into a meal with some princesses - or you could just book something where they'll see Mickey.

- They loved the Fireworks / Nighttime shows

- My kids liked trading pins, but again, I don't know how much Disney is doing that with Covid? We got each of them 3-5 cheap pins online and then they traded multiple times.

Don't dos....
Honestly, we were disappointed in Na'vi River Journey. Up to you, but I would skip that (ride FoP or Expedition Everest twice instead!).

We rode It's a Small World - it's Walt Disney World, after all - but we skipped the other rides in that area like Pooh, Peter Pan, etc. - my kids' choice. They were less interested in those, but rode 7 Dwarves multiple times.

I wouldn't waste too much time on sit-down dinners overall, honestly - my kids have been "out" to nice restaurants a lot at home (especially now that they are adults), so they're not really that impressed with the FOOD part of Disney's restaurants. For the sit-down meals, we got more enjoyment out of things that are really well-themed or have characters - that made it worth the visit - although we went to very few sit-down meals.

Obviously don't waste time on Disney Junior or Kiddie attractions (they probably won't know any of the characters) or stuff geared toward little ones.

 

[CBMom01]

The theming at Be Our Guest really is amazing, but I gotta say the new prices shocked me. Even before the post-Covid price change I had switched from lunch to breakfast (not currently available) because of the cost. The food has always been decent but not $70pp for lunch good IMO.

 

[Disney loving Iowan]

The theming at Be Our Guest really is amazing, but I gotta say the new prices shocked me. Even before the post-Covid price change I had switched from lunch to breakfast (not currently available) because of the cost. The food has always been decent but not $70pp for lunch good IMO.

Yeah I really wish they would bring lunch back. I would love to go again if they did.

 

[CyndiLooWho]

Sounds like fun! We always stay at a time share and absolutely love having the room to spread out there.

I took three young adults (18, 19, 21) last year in December. It was the first time for the 18 (who is now engaged to my son!). My boys, of course, knew all the things they wanted to do, and we showed her a lot of vloggers.

Their favorite parks in order: HS, EP, MK. We skipped AK bc my brother in law came with us and he also wanted to do Universal. It was a full week!

HS has the Star Wars stuff, which was amazing, Tower of Terror, Rockin' Rollercoaster, Toy Story Midway Mania, Slinky Dog, Mickey Minnie RR. Lines were long even in early December, so we did spend more time in the lines than we would have liked, but we got all the headliners in.

My kids are foodies and they thoroughly enjoyed munching from booth to booth. We rode Test Track, Soarin', Mission Space, Living with the Land (my fave), Nemo & Friends, Grand Fiesta, and Spaceship Earth. They loved shopping in Japan. They loved the little food kiosks for Food & Wine. We enjoyed the merch stands in the lands too.

I did drag them through all the dark rides at MK. It was her first time, she had to do those, right? Truthfully, they loved the Mountains, and Pirates, and the Haunted Mansion; the rest was just humoring the lady that paid for it all.

So, those are my recommendations for going with HS/college age kids.

Oh, we ate one quick service meal in the park each day and then did one drive through meal (dinner all days except EPCOT - we did lunch before the park bc it opened at noon). The parks closed around 7 each night, so that worked out well for us. That is a great way to save some money. You will have a full kitchen in the timeshare, but we don't really cook when we do Orlando theme parks. We do use the heck out of the table though.

Remember that eating can take a lot of time and money, and it is fine to prioritize rides and just eat one off-time meal with lots of snacks. On our 2018 trip, table service for 4 (2 adults, 2 HS kids) ran about $120-150 per meal, and even quick service with desserts to share was about $90 per meal.

 

[DisneyKidds]

We’ve been down between Christmas and New Years a couple times. If you don’t mind me asking, why only 3 parks? Honestly, if you had to skip one I’d skip AK. Problem with that is the best ride anywhere (Flights of Passage) is there. Even if you skip AK, if you have park hopper passes rope drop AK just for that, then go elsewhere. The Studios is really fun, best park for big rides, which your kids may enjoy. Galaxy Edge for Star Wars stuff and Toy Story Land (Midway Mania, don’t waste time waiting for Slinky Dog) are worth it, as it RnRollerCoaster and ToT. However, you have time to do all 4 parks and you should try to, unless you are going to take days for Universal or Sea World.

The advice to do MK on Dec 30 is spot on. They run all the NYE festivities that night. The NYE fireworks are spectacular. The park will have all sorts of dance parties and other cool stuff, countdown to midnight and all.

We’ve always done Epcot on NYE as the park swallows the massive crowds better. Epcot World Showcase usually has a couple full on raves going on as well, perfect for kids 18 and 21. As someone else mentioned, if they have Candlelight Processional you should plan on catching that, we’ve always been fans of the Dinner Packages. Definitely book some kind of sit down dining reservation, it will give you a respite from the crowds (did I mention they will be massive? It’s cool though). They usually have some special NYE dinners that can be booked, although with COVID I don’t know anymore. Dining reservations 60 days out I guess, be on top of that.

If Genie and Genie+ is rolled out by then be on top of that. Rope drop mornings for lower crowds, if your hotel is close take a midday break, go back to parks again later. Advice to see Disney resorts in their Holiday best is also spot on. GF, BW, BC/YC are all worth a look. Grab drinks at Enchanted Rose (GF) and Mizner’s (BW).

We like nice meals at WDW. Le Cellier (Epcot), Brown Derby (Studios), Narcoossees or Citricos (GF) are some of our faves. 1900 Park Fare (GF) character breakfast is great. ‘Face’ characters are fun, Strawberry Soup not to be missed.

Honestly, your question is a big open ended ask, there’s so much to suggest it would take hours! I leave it at those tidbits for now. You are gonna have fun! Set your expectations accordingly (did I mention crowds?, especially on NYE), go with the flow and take it all in, it’s really cool that time of year.

 

[scrapqueen8]

I am assuming you bought tickets and have your park reservations already .... busy week.

Yes, I purchased the tickets and made the reservations that day

 

[scrapqueen8]

I personally wouldn't pass on Epcot. If for no other reason than the great food and atmosphere. If I were you though I'd watch as many vlogs as you can. They can be quite helpful with choosing what to do and where to eat.

DD21 wants to try different "drinks", I wanna try different foods.

 

[Disney loving Iowan]

DD21 wants to try different "drinks", I wanna try different foods.

Epcot would be a great place then if they are having a festival when you go. Going to the booths and trying the different food and drinks is so much fun.